German ag minister: eat less meat

Motivated by climate considerations, Ilse Aigner, the German minister of agriculture, has called on German consumers to reduce their level of meat consumption.

Aigner said that it would be good for all if recommendations of the German Nutrition Society (DGE) would be followed, which would come down to 300-600 gramme of meat per week. This is roughly half of the current level of consumption per head.

Healthy and balanced
"If we would all feed ourselves healthily and balanced, just like e.g. the German Nutrition Society recommends through its nutrition pyramid, we would already achieve a considerable contribution to climate protection," she said.

Aigner herself claims to do as much as she can to follow these guidelines. In addition, she called on members of the public to purchase as many domestic products as possible.

Green week
She expressed her thoughts recently in an interview, leading up to the International Green Week, a fair for food, agriculture and horticulture, held in the German capital of Berlin, 15-24 January.

She invited 30 ministers from all over the world for a conference on agriculture and climate change. One of the themes there will be to find a balance between rising demands to food, climate change, animal welfare and biodiversity.